OCR Text |
Show Wood heating can cut fuel oil bill Stoking a wood-burning stove on ' winter mornings instead of adjusting the thermostat on an oil-burning oil-burning furnace can save a homeowner significant amounts of money, the American Forest Institute said. A cord of dry, seasoned hardwood contains about as much energy , measured in British Thermal Units (Btu) as 200 gallons of No. 2 home heating oil, but costs about half as much, an AFI spokesman . said. A cord of wood, a 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-8-foot pile, currently costs about $100 cut, delivered, and stacked while the energy equivalent, in heating oil costs about $200, the spokesman said. The efficiency of burning wood depends on the type of stove used, the type of wood, and the dryness of the wood. The spokesman explained that hardwoods such as hickory, oak, ash, or maple contain more energy than such softwoods as white pine, cedar, and poplar. The dryness of the wood is very important to the homeowner trying to save money. Drying wood properly takes about a year, but roughly doubles the Btu content, the spokesman for the Washington-based trade group said. The largest financial hurdle before a homeowner thinking of converting con-verting to wood heat is the cost of a stove. Wood-burning stoves are now offered by many manufacturers, manu-facturers, but most cost hundreds of dollars. This means the payback time could be lengthy, but, of course, it would get shorter dollar-for-dollar with higher fuel oil prices. Even more money can be saved by homeowners who don't mind some physical exercise, the spokesman said. Some firewood, companies will deliver large sections of logs which the homeowher must split and dry. This costs about $50 a cord in quantities of at least five cords, the AFI spokesman said. |